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Posts Tagged ‘Labour’

Although and to be fair, they are not the only ones, the BBC yesterday made much heavy weather of what is a provisional figure for GDP at – 0.5% for the last quarter of 2010, today’s Independent in an Editorial really took the biscuit: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-economic-contraction-will-have-political-consequences-2194338.html

If the “Media” is in dire straights and therefore needs to dramatise every little thing, I suggest they concentrate on their favourite market “Celebrities” – “Celebrity X from Reality Show Y, passes wind as she leaves China Whites…”, rather than serious stuff like the economy which is way outside their comprehension even if a broadsheet it seems…

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This I mean on both accounts, Alan Johnson having to resign as Shadow Chancellor and Ed Balls taking over his post as Shadow Chancellor. Although I have never been a fan of Johnson or, “Postman Pat”, he always looked to me as if he should have a bell on his hat and a fishing rod, the manner of his going is in personal terms, very sad and I am sorry for him on that and wish him well.

As to Ed Balls returning in the No.2 role to Ed Miliband as Shadow Chancellor, that is truly sad for the Labour Party and absolutely, hilarious for the Coalition Government. As they will become increasingly unpopular in the polls because of the economic medicine they have to administer and the public regardless of political persuasion ‘acknowledge’ it has to be done, George Osborne will face an unrepentant Brown ‘clone’ so for them, it must amount to a “Bring it On !” One wonders whether Balls is bright enough to see that before he falls in it..

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On John Rentoul’s blog, he includes a couple of BBC video clips which are quite interesting. Essentially his view is that a Labour Party led by Ed Miliband will not get elected and frankly, I totally agree with him and it is not being “Anti-Labour” to say so.

Amusingly, the BBC sent him to an “Ed’s Diner”, a wonderful retro American style burger bar, to film a piece, great fun ! http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/01/17/order-to-go-at-eds-diner/ However and although easy to joke about, when we look at the Labour Party today, we are looking at a whole lost generation of Labour politicians.

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I wrote yesterday about my view of the expected outcome from the Oldham and Saddleworth by-election and even allowing for the pathetic fumblings of the Media, I was surprised by the torrent of mindless crap that flowed from the result.

Firstly, it makes no difference because it was always a Labour safe seat that only came under any threat because of the mood of the Country in May 2010 which was one of realisation that we could no longer tolerate a Labour Government under the leadership of Gordon Brown. There was neither victory nor any serious ‘judgement’ in this result, all one can say is that if Labour had lost the seat, it would have been a ‘story’, that they didn’t amounts to a ‘No News’ story.

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With today’s by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth a safe Labour seat, the media is obviously giving some attention and for once, the Independent : http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-what-is-and-isnt-at-stake-in-oldham-east-2182988.html totally trumps the rather nonsense piece by Benedict Brogan in the Telegraph : http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100071712/oldham-by-election-we-will-find-out-whether-the-coalition-looks-old-and-sad/

The problem is that the newspapers feel, quite rightly, that they must comment and try and ‘dramatise’ every twist and turn that they can whilst a rather more sophisticated electorate has other things on their mind, the economy and how bad it will all be, the current political dynamics are accepted for the time being, all political journalists are looking rather stale.

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Although I am sure, much to the chagrin of many ‘Independent Readers’, John Rentoul who is now clearly back in form with a wonderful column on his immediate future projections which, is well worth the read:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-take-a-peek-into-my-crystal-ball-for-2011-2170448.html

There was one particular bit about a school book scheme that no one had heard of but the lacklustre Ed Miliband decided to wade in on which was totally silly even if, being an essential part of being Ed the Muppet Millipede.

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As someone who reads the newspapers online, today’s headlines concerning all the budget cuts have been quite amusing if not to say a little disingenuous. It is impossible for anyone to project what the outcomes of the spending reviews and cuts will be in terms of, “Does it solve the problem or will it of itself cause further problems in the future ?”

The equation is very simple. If government spending is too high then basically that spending must be cut by the same percentage that it is too high compared with government revenue. But in dealing with it, there are really only two options either cut expenditure on things like social security and public service jobs (the software) or/and cut any capital projects that the government might pay for be it in civil engineering, infrastructure or defence (the hardware)…

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I am not and never have been a fan of David Miliband, he has always seemed rather arrogant and aloof added to which, he lacked the courage or determination to seize the “Crown” from Brown on several occasions and that was foolish for both him, his party and the Country at large. If he had put his boot up Gordon’s ample bum, who knows, we might still have had a Labour Government !

Come to think of it and on that basis, maybe I do like him a little, I for one could not have stood another 5 years of Labour, Harmon, Straw, Balls and the rest of the gang. But that said, I do think that David Miliband has made the right decision in not running for a Cabinet post under his brother, it would have been a disaster all round.

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Yesterday as earlier predictions by the Bookies were confirmed, Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party. Whether he beat his brother only with the support of the Trades Unions is frankly irrelevant as are “he will lurch to the left” predictions, the simple fact is that he has a very difficult job to do and whilst not wishing to underestimate his abilities, it is one he will more likely fail in the doing.

As I have written before, the whole of the current Labour Front Bench is distinctly lack lustre so winning back the chance of Government by the power of personality and appearing more attractive to the electorate, is unlikely whilst the likes of Harmon, Balls and so on still squat there. The most powerful tool to help Labour regain power will be the fallout from the expenditure cuts the Coalition makes, in the aftermath, some sections of the electorate may turn to the only alternative, the Labour Party. Equally though, many may well remember that their current ‘pain’ was caused by a Labour Government and re-elect the Coalition at the expense of Labour.

However, if the Coalition does even a moderately good job, 2015 is hardly likely, 2020 may be more possible and if a week is a long time in politics, a decade must be an Ice Age so, will Ed Miliband survive that long ? I don’t think so, like the Conservatives post 1997, I suspect that there will be a few changes of Leader before then plus, I still hold to my original thought that whoever became Leader now, would be taking on a caretaker role because it is highly likely that the next significant Labour Leader, has yet to enter Parliament as an MP. I cannot quite see Ed Miliband as the boy who could withdraw the sword from the stone, can you ?

For this article, I have used a picture of Ed Miliband apparently the “Bookies Favourite” to win the Labour Leadership election but in a sense, I could equally have used a picture of Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the LibDems because both are in a sense, actors on a stage awaiting the script and director to arrive.

They are both “all dressed up, with nowhere to go” and likely, both destined for oblivion as they await the “Coalition Experiment” to succeed or fail when both will inevitably, be struck down with“performance self doubts” and completely fluff their lines. But it never-the-less led me once again to consider the sheer folly of the Blair Brown fratricidal dispute whilst in Office, albeit with a slightly different perspective…

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